Grandpa over Flowers
If you find the title familiar - well because it's a reference to the Korean drama Boys Over Flowers - you know that Korean adaptation of Meteor Garden/Hana Yori Dango featuring the ever famous F4. Since these 4 men are much much older, hence Grandpa over Flowers.
The aim of the show is rather simple - letting 4 elderly actors (Lee Soon Jae at 80 years old, Shin Gu at 79, Park Geun Hyung at 74 and Baek Il Seob at 70) go on a backpacking trip - on a rather tight daily budget of 75 bucks a day filled with public transport and simple backpacker lodges/2-star accommodations. It double up as a travel show - directed mainly at the idea that you can still travel when you are old. They went to Paris for the first season, Taiwan in the second and Spain in the third.
The first season was obviously on a tighter budget. They started getting a little more attention after the second season drove up tourist arrivals from Korea to Taiwan. The third one featuring Spain started to have sponsorship (mostly clothing and air tickets) - the last season was so good the producer (known as Na PD) was awarded a tourism award from the tourism bureau of Spain.
As old folks, obviously they are not going to be concerned with the logistics issues. And in comes the luggage boy (or man since he's already 44 years old) in tow. He's Lee Seo Jin, a Korean actor most famous for his role in Lovers and Yi San.
Given the emphasis on hierarchy in the Korean culture, Lee was pretty much the luggage boy/hotel booker/nanny/manager/human GPS et cetera. At 44 years old, which he mentioned was the age to be served by most people, he was reduced to being the baby of the team. The best part was - which was shown in the first season - he was actually scammed into going on the trip. He thought he was going to Paris for a luxury art tour with Kpop girl bands! So imagine his shock when he was thrown into this role for the next 10D9N in Paris with 4 extremely senior folks (both professionally and in age) - with no hotels booked and no itinerary planned.
The show surprised me in so many ways and the whiny yet obedient Lee was definitely icing on the cake. Beautiful scenery and history lessons aside (given how many churches and museums there are in Paris and Spain), the best part of the show was the wise words from these Halbaes ("Grandpa" in Korean). How during their younger days, all they did was worked very hard and never stopping for a moment to enjoy life or travel. When they finally had enough money, they realized they have aged. Their spirit to keep learning, being open to experiences and gratitude in small things really makes the show shine. I coaxed my mum into watching one episode of it and now she's absolutely hooked! Haha.
In a heartwarming fuzzy way, seeing these 4 elders reminds me of my own grandfather who passed away about 7 years ago. My mum says it reminds her of my grandpa and granduncle - especially when one of actors really resembles him in appearance.
It is possible to laugh and tear a little while watching this show. Highly recommend it! :)
PS: I laughed so hard reading the recaps ;)
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